wombat_socho

No surprise, but I disagree here:

"she's definitely playing to the social-conservative base of the Republican party -- although that's as much a liability as it is an asset, given that that base has been running out of steam since the early 2000s and is getting smaller all the time."
Actually, that's not true. Most of the candidates that ran as social conservatives won. John McCain is a great and honorable man, but by no stretch of the imagination can he be called a "social Conservative". His nomination by the Republican centrists was pretty much the death knell for this campaign cycle, and Sarah Palin was able to extend the life of the campaign.

"Palin is not, at the moment, a viable President; she lacks experience with and knowledge of foreign policy, knowledge of federal-level issues beyond the talking points, and the flexibility to deal with an often-hostile Congress"
She is at least as qualified as Barak Obama. The time in office that each has is seperated by less than 200 days, and considering most of the time Obama was a Senator he was campaigning, he certainly doesn't have the Executive experience that Palin has from being a Governor every day. Managing a campaign, no matter how large (and really all the candidate does is shape the ideas and give the speeches) is very different than running a state with an 11 billionn dollar budget.

There is a big difference between being "qualified" and being "recognised". The media was pissed because McCain did an end-run around them and didn't pick one of their "expected" candidates. If they had listened to Newt Gingrich and Bill Kristol back in June they would have known that Sarah Palin was high on the list. It's their own fault for ignoring her and not doing their due dilligence.